fat loss, nutrition, fitness, healthy dairy-free recipes

PIYO exercise DVD video set review

PIYO is the new craze in no-impact exercise videos; it’s described as combination of cardio, yoga and Pilates, although I can only recall one Pilates exercise in the entire set. The three DVD’s include lower body & buns, upper body, sweat & drench (cardio), core, and strength & sculpt. The distinction between each workout video is unclear because some of the same moves are in each video. The repetition of many of the exercises are both good and bad. It’s good because I’m mastering some of the moves, but the bad part, is that it’s not as fun when you’re doing the same thing over and over again.

The instructor, Chalene, is cheerful and motivating, but she’s not always accurate when explaining what the movement is. For example, she’ll say “rest,” when she means “child’s pose,” or “reverse” when she means “cow pose.” She also calls a side plank with a twist, a “PIYO pike,” which is confusing. I frequently have to stop to look at the video to see the movements to understand what she really means.

I bought this set because I wanted to do more yoga, which it offers, but there’s no advanced yoga poses and not enough variety. I was also disappointed that there wasn’t enough stretching exercises, or even a separate stretching video, since I want to work on flexibility. All in all, they are fun, short, challenging workouts, and despite my criticisms, I rate it a “B” and recommend PIYO.